Inevitability of future terror attacks should not be a surprise

Vice President Dick Cheney was in the news this past weekend stating that ''It's not a matter of if, but when,'' the United States will be attacked by terrorists again.

During appearances on two talk shows Sunday, Cheney confirmed that U.S. intelligence sources have been following tips that Osama bin Laden's terrorist network might be planning an attack. In a classic understatement, the vice president remarked that the information was vague but should be taken seriously and, ''I think the prospects of a future attack on the U.S. are almost a certainty.'' Cheney went on to say, what the American people have been told for some time since the Sept. 11 attacks, and that is that the attacks could come anytime, anywhere, and we have to be prepared.

On Monday FBI Director Robert Mueller echoed Cheney's predictions saying ''there will be another terrorist attack. We will not be able to stop it. It's something we all live with.''

''I think we will see that in the future, I think it's inevitable,'' Mueller said in response to a question during a speech to the National Association of District Attorneys meeting in suburban Alexandria, Va.

Is there some news here we didn't know about? Maybe we jumped to some conclusions back in September, but we thought more terrorist attacks were a given, and that our government leaders were working on ways to help uncover information on planned attacks and help prevent them.

One would assume our intelligence agencies and government officials were taking the matter seriously. One would also hope measures are being implemented to shake up our U.S. security agencies like the FBI, CIA and INS, whose ineptitude and Keystone Kops-like performances have undermined the confidence and security of our nation. We hope these recent comments from two of our nation's top leaders isn't a signal that they're just now coming to terms with this country's new reality.

Sept. 11 was not our nation's first brush with terrorism, and there has never been reason to believe it will be our last. In 1993, six people died when a bomb was detonated in the parking deck of one World Trade Center tower with the intention of toppling it into the other tower. Two years later, a truck bomb sheared off the side of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City killing 168. In a stroke of luck, border patrol agents thwarted a terrorist attack that was planned for Los Angeles around the 2000 New Year's holiday. In addition to the targets on American soil, a number of U.S. interests have also been attacked overseas, from embassies to military installations.

If anything, the likelihood of future terrorism has increased since Sept. 11. Having had our vulnerabilities brutally exposed, those people who hate us will be only more encouraged to attack. The days of feeling like an island of safety and security amid a dangerous global sea are long gone; they crumbled with the World Trade Center and Pentagon. No American should need to be reminded of that fact.